Hoogly Blogs / indoors

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

A new year, a new you—and the same old restrictions. It’s fair to say that the beginning of 2021 has been especially challenging, compounding the usual dreariness of winter with continued curbs on our social freedoms. A great deal of us continue to adapt to new circumstances and new pressures, one of which is the adjustment to working from home. Although lots of people have already made this change, there will be many who are just starting, thinking about starting, or who wish to improve the way they operate and function within the confines of their homes. With this in mind, we at Hoogly would like to offer a few hints and tips for staying at the top of your professional game in these uncertain and stressful times.

For all your working from home needs please also check out www.thewfhzone.co.uk

Create a work space: Designate a location where you will be comfortable, uninterrupted (where possible!) and content. Sit and be still in this place for a while, sending a clear signal to your grey matter that it’s time to focus and concentrate. When you’re no longer working, keep away from this area, and resist the urge to ‘check in.’
Get Moving: If you’re not a fan of being restricted to one location, then pick a few other quiet locations and designate them as office space. Allot yourself a certain amount of time in each space and then change location. This will help your muscles and posture, and also provide a neat way to organise and breakdown your tasks, allowing you to manage your time.
Schedule: It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, but it’s a great idea to write or type a schedule for the day, giving yourself clear objectives and timeframes for each task based on priorities and importance. This will streamline your working day. Within your schedule, try to factor in what and when you will eat. If you can, stick to the same time each day as routine is as important for your body as it is for your mind.
Break it up! One of the pitfalls of working from home is the tendency to make yourself available at every minute of the day. But in order to maximise the quality and quantity of your output, you must give yourself the opportunity to relax and recharge. Get away from your screen, go somewhere else, have a cup of delicious Hoogly tea—and enforce this break strictly. Even five or ten minutes each hour will be beneficial for your productivity.
Check in: While there are a lot of plus sides to working from home (cheerio, commute!) it can also, for obvious reasons, be more isolating. Ensure you carve out time to get in touch with friends and family via video chat in order to get face-to-face human interaction, and if you’re struggling, don’t be afraid to talk about how the experience is affecting you to your colleagues and boss. A lot of people are in the same boat and it’s very helpful to get different perspectives, input and advice! If it suits the others, build your video calls or virtual coffee breaks into your schedule.
Boundaries: As with all areas of life, it’s important to create and curate your boundaries, especially if you share your house with others—including children! Working from home is flexible, but it also has a plethora of distractions, so be sure to discuss your needs with everyone before you get started. Gently remind others that you will need quiet and focus, share your schedule with them so everyone is on board, and remember to enforce your boundaries at work where possible. Once you’ve logged off, stay logged off! You’ve worked hard, now enjoy your freedom!
Be Kind to Yourself: It won’t all be plain sailing. This is an unusual and often disorienting situation, and it’s perfectly normal to find adjustment tricky. It’s important to acknowledge that your productivity might not be the same as before, and that any goals you create must be realistic and achievable. The most important thing is to look after yourself, and everything else may just take care of itself!

And if you’re looking for a spectacular way to reward yourself for a completed task, or at the end of a hard day’s work, then look no further than Hoogly’s latest tea creation: Blueberry Muffin Rooibos! This caffeine-free treat combines the unique taste of Rooibos with an infusion of sweet tones, making it the perfect brew for any time of the day or night! Once you inhale the sensational scent and take your first sip, you’ll wonder where muffin tea has been all your life! You’re welcome!!!

That’s it for now, Hoogly fans. We hope you all remain safe and well, and we wish you all the best for the new year!

Written by Chris Bedford

www.hooglytea.com

www.thewfhzone.co.uk

Posted on January 18, 2021

Tagged: All seasons, drink and eat well, furniture, indoors, look after yourself, no place like home, office supplies, premium tea, sleep well, wellbeing, Work from home, work well, working from home tips

Kettle Do Nicely

Hello everyone. First off, we at Hoogly would like to extend our best wishes to everyone during this challenging period; we hope you are all doing as well as possible under the circumstances. It can seem trivial to talk about tea during such a turbulent time—and yet, throughout history, people have turned to simple pleasures when things are tough, finding comfort in the familiar and the reliable. Flipping on the kettle is a symbol of crisis management; a beacon that draws us together; a plastic click that says sit down and tell me about it and I’m here for you. So, we say: fill the kettle, flip the switch, and make your favourite cuppa. It won’t change the world, but it might bring a small moment or two of calm, solace and tranquillity.

The main topic of this blog was going to be about the great outdoors and the treasures one can find there. But at a time when less and less of us are venturing outside, this topic, at first, seemed a touch counterintuitive. However, the more I thought about it, the more I figured that the wonderful things I’d seen and learned about didn’t get less wonderful just because I wasn’t going to visit them for a while. In fact, thinking about them took my mind off current events, and put a smile on my face. So, in the end, I decided that I would write about them—and hopefully you’ll find something here that will put a smile on your face too.

The first thing I discovered was something extremely contemporary in terms of nature: a phenomenon known colloquially as ‘witches knickers.’ This is where a shred of stray plastic bag gets caught high up in the branches and twigs of trees, bringing to mind, to those who named it, images of old hags flying around on their broomsticks (presumably without much clothing) and swooping low enough to snag their undergarments in a most unfortunate way. Although this is also a reminder of the excesses of human production, it always gives me a chuckle when I see it.

The second thing I learned about was a spheroblast or burr. This is something I’d seen many times without being able to put a name to it: an anomaly in trees causing various sizes of growths to bulge out from the trunk, sometimes as big as footballs. Burr—as in burr walnut—is often used by luxury car manufacturers and makers of pipes, and the fractal grain of these growths appeal greatly to wood carvers. I like to think of it as trees puffing out their chest with pride—or perhaps with hostility—seeing as Spheroblast sounds like something the X-Men might do battle with!

The final part of the natural world that I discovered was the word Dumbledore. Steady on, Potter fans, it’s not what you think! This is actually another name for the bumblebee! In Britain, our gold and black friend has, in fact, gone by many names: ‘foggy bumbler,’ ‘drumbledrane’ and until fairly recently, the ‘humble-bee.’ Beatrix Potter chose ‘bumble’ instead of ‘humble’ in Tale of Mrs Tiittlemouse (1910)—and by the middle of that decade, Beatrix’s choice had become the norm! Our other literary Potter, of course, has a headmaster with the name Dumbledore, but the character is out of sync with the original West Country meaning: a person who is lethargic, slow, and a little dim.

Fun fact: the bee’s buzz doesn’t come from its wings! It’s actually the sound of the bee’s muscles firing up before take-off, much like a plane or helicopter! Take a peek and have a listen next time you spot a bee on a flower!

And to celebrate the natural world, why not try one of our latest creations…Apricot Blossom green tea?! This uniquely elegant brew is a combination of the downy leaves of Chinese Pai Mu Dan white tea and refreshingly crisp green tea, underscored by the ripe, sunny flavours of soft stone fruit. It’s the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon tea, or can be enjoyed on its own as a tasty treat that will help you relax and unwind.

That’s it until next time, Hoogly fans. Take good care of yourselves, do Hygge, and keep filling your kettle!

Written by Chris Bedford

www.hooglytea.com

Posted on March 20, 2020

Tagged: Apricot tea, book reading, community, drink tea, good health, green tea, herbal infusions, hot drinks, Hygge, indoors, movies, natural, self isolating, Stay safe, tea, virus, white tea

Hoogly Blogs / indoors

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Kettle Do Nicely

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